As the overwhelming pressure subsided, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; standing next to a Special Grade Warlock unleashing all of his power was stressful to say the least.
As the pressure subsided, an even sadder atmosphere filled the room. They all knew that Arcturus was dead.
"I'll begin the funeral arrangements." Narcissa replied with a cold expression, but everyone could see that the woman was suffering more than anyone else in the room.
She had buried too many relatives in one lifetime, her parents, her uncles, her cousins and now her great-uncle.
"I'll help, Cissy." Andromeda wiped the tears from the corner of her eye and spoke, rising from the sofa. She wasn't going to let her sister go through this again alone.
Dorea also got up and stood next to her mother, even though she didn't know her mother's family very well, she knew how important they were to her mother, who was so proud to be a member of them.
Sirius just picked up a bottle of whisky and started drinking like never before, his eyes were red, but the man hadn't cried once.
He hated it, he hated feeling those painful feelings in his chest, he had been to too many funerals in his own family. He drank to forget the pain, but only an overwhelming emptiness remained in his chest.
Tonks had also gotten up from the sofa and gone to help her aunt and mother, who seemed to be suffering so much at the moment.
In this sad, desolate and cold environment, only Bellatrix showed an expression of boredom.
"Don't you feel sad, Bella? Or the monster inside you can't feel anything." Sirius drained the bottle of whisky and spoke, looking coldly at his cousin. A seething anger bubbled up in his chest at the sight of that smile on her face.
"Why should I be sad? It's as natural to die as it is to be born." Bellatrix looked at Sirius and spoke in a cheerful tone, as if she enjoyed seeing the look of anger on Sirius' face.
"You're just an unfeeling monster." Sirius said coldly, his words as cruel as they could be.
"Sirius!!!" Andromeda and Narcissa looked at Sirius Black in anger.
"Am I wrong? Look at her, laughing like she thinks the whole situation is funny!!!" Sirius yelled, pointing at Bellatrix, who looked perfectly happy despite the cold nature of Sirius' words to her.
"She even has a daughter, but she doesn't care about the child." Sirius, completely out of his mind from drinking, pointed at the crying Ophelia and shouted even louder.
"Daughter?" Bellatrix's green eyes fell on the black-haired, red-eyed girl, her disgust so obvious it made everyone's face look ugly. "She's just a bastard that I don't even remember existed. She should have stayed in the hole she was made for and never come out."
Bellatrix's casual and heartbreaking words made Ophelia's face lose all color. Tears streamed down her face as she stared at her mother in disbelief.
Her words continued to echo in her mind, shattering any innocent dreams she had once had.
It wasn't just her, everyone looked at Bellatrix with wide eyes.
Dorea in particular stared at her aunt in shock, even though she knew her aunt was mad, this was too mad.
Narcissa approached Bellatrix and slapped her older sister across the face.
Pa!
The loud, clear sound echoed around the room.
"Why did you hit me?" Holding her cheek, Bellatrix looked unfairly at her younger sister and asked with a hurt look.
In her eyes, she hadn't said anything that wasn't true. Bellatrix could imagine that she had slept with Voldemort and become pregnant. When the girl was born, the Dark Lord had probably wiped her memory, leaving her unaware that she had a bastard child.
But that was it, if it had been her child with Asterion, she would have loved the child and raised it and taught it everything she knew, but since it was Voldemort's daughter, she didn't care at all, she even felt a deep dislike for the bastard creature. She didn't want to be associated with such a thing.
"Dorea, Tonks, take your cousin to her room." Narcissa spoke coldly and both young women carried the distraught Ophelia out of the room, whispering words of comfort to the girl.
"We'll talk about this later, Bellatrix." Narcissa said in an accusatory tone. The same look Andromeda gave her older sister.
Bellatrix rubbed her cheek, indifferent to the looks she received. If she really cared what others thought of her, she would have taken a rope and killed herself a long time ago.
"What's going on?"
Hearing the sudden voice, everyone looked at the door and saw Asterion standing in front of it with a tired and confused expression, noticing the tense atmosphere hanging over the place.
"Asterion." Narcissa approached him and hugged him tightly, burying his head in her arms.
"I'm fine, Cissy, Arcturus has left this world peacefully and happily." Asterion spoke in a soft tone. Although he was sad inside, he knew that his great-grandfather was truly at peace with his death.
Narcissa looked at him, trying to see any signs of madness or anger, but was relieved to see that he only looked exhausted and tired of the whole situation.
"What happened?" Asterion asked again as he left Narcissa's warm and comforting arms. The atmosphere was too hostile for a wake.
"Humph! Bellatrix acting like Bellatrix." Narcissa muttered, unhappy with her older sister's harsh and cruel words.
Asterion asked no more, he had a good idea what had happened, especially with Ophelia on the scene. As he imagined, his cousin did not react, or rather, did not react in a friendly way to her newfound daughter.
"I have something to do, I'll leave everything to you, Cissy." Asterion said, looking at Narcissa. He wanted to pay tribute to his grandfather, a tribute worthy of being remembered in the history of House Black.
Narcissa nodded in agreement. She had already planned to take on this role. Especially now that she had the help of her sister, daughter and niece.
Asterion kissed Narcissa's cheek and chatted quickly with everyone, then hurried out of the room.
"He seems to be in a hurry." Andromeda commented worriedly, causing Narcissa to sigh helplessly. She felt her family had become even more complicated with so many new members arriving all the time.
-
At the entrance to the manor, Asterion looked at the statue of his ancestor Corvinus Black and waved his hand. Baskerville appeared and placed the statue in the room where he kept all his things.
Asterion nodded in satisfaction and quickly made his way to his secret laboratory, one of the most secure rooms in the entire mansion, which had previously been Corvinus' own bedroom.
Once there, Asterion locked the secret passage by activating the mechanism and ordered Baskerville to place the statue in the middle of his laboratory.
The whole laboratory looked very modern, very different from an orthodox witch's laboratory. Asterion preferred it that way, modern tools were much better than the antiques the wizards used.
"One of the most important people to me died today, I used you as a tribute to him. " Asterion commented calmly, looking into the statue's eyes.
"The day God was born in this world."
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Author's thoughts: I apologize for the delay in updates, I was without power for four days due to an idiotic mistake by my power company.
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Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 162 - First Phase of God's Creation Plan (2), Chapter 163 - First Phase of God's Creation Plan (3), Chapter 164 - First Phase of God's Creation Plan (4), Chapter 165 - Vellory of Arcuturus Black (1), Chapter 166 - Vellory of Arcuturus Black (2), Chapter 167 - Vellory of Arcuturus Black (3), Chapter 168 - Vellory of Arcuturus Black (4), Chapter 169 - Torture and Secrets (1), Chapter 170 - Torture and Secrets (2), Chapter 171 - Conspiracies and Secrets (1), 172 - Conspiracies and Secrets (2), 173 - Conspiracies and Secrets (3), 174 - Conspiracies and Secrets (4), 175 - Conspiracies and Secrets (5), 176 - Conspiracies and Secrets (6), 177 - Conspiracies and Secrets (7).